1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus, such as an ink jet printer.
2. Related Art
As an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus which ejects liquid onto a medium, an ink jet printer that performs printing while ejecting ink (liquid) from nozzles of a liquid ejecting unit onto a sheet (medium) is widely known (for example, see JP-A-2010-82856). In such a printer, water in the ink in the nozzles is evaporated from a nozzle opening, thereby the viscosity of the ink in the nozzles is increased. Therefore, clogging in the nozzle easily occurs.
Accordingly, the clogging of the nozzle is suppressed by flushing (dummy jet) for ejecting the ink in the nozzle into a nozzle cap independently (in a dummy) of printing, in a state where an ink jet line head (liquid ejecting unit) is moved to a maintenance position at an appropriate timing during printing.
In the above-described printer, when flushing is repeatedly performed, the ink (waste liquid) ejected into the nozzle cap is dried and an accumulated material of a component (for example, pigment, synthetic resin, or the like) included in the ink is generated. When the accumulated material is stored in the nozzle cap, in a case where the ink jet line head is moved to the maintenance position, there is a problem in that the ink jet line head is contaminated by contacting with the accumulated material.
Such a problem is not limited to ink jet printers that perform printing while ejecting ink, and is generally common in a liquid ejecting apparatus having nozzles for ejecting a liquid.